by gerhard gross
One major challange in Dzaleka Refugee Camp is storm water drainage. The camp has no drainage system whatsoever and drains make feeder roads impassable. Also ‚wild‘ waterways damage houses which are mainly built with mud bricks.
In one part of the camp refugees have constructed drains in selfhelp financially assisted by an NGO.
fotos © studio karonga 2019
Werner impressed by the initiative of the camp residents made plans for a sustainable drainage system for the whole existing camp. This required propper mapping of the area. He was excited by new methods of taking orthofotos with drones which allow accurate analysing the topography of an area.
Cut-out of orthophotomosaik of Dzalek Regugee Camp – foto © unhcr malawi 2019
Schellenberg tried to obtain funds from UNHCR to install a save drainage system to all affected roads in the camp. Unfortunately funds were not made available. He therefore looked for a shortterm low budget solution: Speedtraps to slow down waterflows in the drains.
fotos © werner schellenberg